posted February 23, 2007 09:05 AM            

“I have no regrets. I killed her out of the conviction that she was leading an un-Islamic life and spreading an evil influence on other women,” Sarwar told interrogators in custody, according to a police source.

Sarwar belongs to Ahle Hadith, a local religious vigilante group, and had allegedly killed four prostitutes in 2002, but was acquitted for want of evidence.

He shot the young woman minister at her meet-the-public function, posing as a visitor last Monday. Sarwar was irked by her increasing popularity, sources in the Punjab Police told Daily Times Thursday.

Police said that Sarwar has "his own interpretation of Islam". Sarwar told interrogators that he was fired by a passion to purge society of women who defy Islamic customs.

Sarwar owns a hardware shop in Gujranwala and has nine children - four sons and five daughters. He had ordered his wife and daughters to stay at home and veil their faces.

Slain minister Zil-e-Huma belonged to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Qaid), was related to Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi and was a vocal supporter of President Pervez Musharraf's liberalization drive.

posted February 23, 2007 09:09 AM            

Mohammed Riaz, 49, found it abhorrent that his eldest daughter wanted to be a fashion designer, and that she and her sisters were likely to reject the Muslim tradition of arranged marriages.

On Hallowe'en last year he sprayed petrol throughout their terraced home in Accrington, Lancs, and set it alight.

Caneze Riaz, 39, woke and tried to protect her three-year-old child, Hannah, who was sleeping with her, but was overcome by fumes. Her other daughters, Sayrah, 16, Sophia, 13, and Alisha, 10, died elsewhere in the house.

Riaz, who had spent the evening drinking, set himself on fire and died two days later.

Relatives broke the news to the couple's son, Adam, 17, as he lay terminally ill with cancer at the Christie Hospital, Manchester. He died six weeks later.

Michael Singleton, the coroner, recorded verdicts that Riaz killed himself and that his victims were unlawfully killed.

Riaz, who had spent all but the last 17 years of his life in the North West Frontier region of Pakistan, met his Anglo-Pakistani wife when her father sent her to the sub-continent to find a husband.

After an arranged marriage, she developed a career as a community leader in Accrington while he, handicapped by a lack of English, took on a series of low-paid jobs.

After Mrs Riaz's father died she "suddenly felt less beholden to Mohammed", a friend said. "She started to develop her own circle of friends and allowed the girls to express themselves in a more western way."

posted February 23, 2007 06:41 PM              

My aunt from Lahore had a maid/servant who was killed because she ran away with her boyfriend and dishonoured her family.

She was not Muslim. She was Christian. No matter, honour killing is criminal and a backwards cultural practice, not a religious one. People who practice this are not religious.

Her father and older brother tracked her down from a village outside of Lahore, brought her home, and stabbed her to death with four different knives.

posted February 23, 2007 07:17 PM              

lol, I thought it was just me...Cant help repeating my answers with a gem asc.

Wonder what the excuse is for others...like yourself

posted February 23, 2007 09:15 PM            

quote:

---

She was not Muslim. She was Christian. No matter, honour killing is criminal and a backwards cultural practice, not a religious one. People who practice this are not religious.

---

Very true. But quite often religion is used as an exuse for such behavior.

posted February 24, 2007 12:28 AM            

One of the articles even point out to you that its not a religious practice but more to do with culture...which I'm sorry to say as well because like African culture, Asian culture is great but (as with every culture, actually) it has some things there that are not so great.

posted February 24, 2007 04:51 AM            

quote:

---

Wonder what the excuse is for others...like yourself

---

Ah, yes. I'm the head of the Department of Redundancy Department.

Come to think of it, I think I've used that stupid joke here before, too.

posted February 24, 2007 05:15 PM            

quote:

---

Culture v. religion arguments are all great, but the fact remains that if you have psycho after psycho claiming some religion or the other as the driving factor for their creepy acts (and that's putting it mildly!), then obviously religion (at the very least, the way they practice or believe in their religion) has something to do with it.

---

posted February 24, 2007 05:36 PM              

"One of the articles even point out to you that its not a religious practice but more to do with culture...which I'm sorry to say as well because like African culture, Asian culture is great but (as with every culture, actually) it has some things there that are not so great."

True Say!

Oh Johnny no worries there are plenty of knowflakes swimming in circles here...yet not everyone has Pisces in their chart. Maybe we're all Pisces wannabes, or wannabes of Pisces that run departments of Redundancy???

Alchemist, yes religion does shape culture, as do other beliefs and practices. Im of the Dulce Luna's thinking:

posted February 24, 2007 06:48 PM            

Extremist Muslims who force vulnerable teenage girls to convert to Islam are being targeted by police, Met chief Sir Ian Blair has revealed.

Police are working with universities to clamp down on "aggressive conversions" during which girls are beaten up and forced to abandon university courses.

The Hindu Forum of Britain claims hundreds of mostly Sikh and Hindu girls have been intimidated by Muslim men who take them out on dates before terrorising them until they convert.

Sir Ian spoke about the problem at a conference organised by the forum.

A Met spokesman said: "Neighbourhood officers work with university authorities in London and we would encourage anyone targeted in this way to seek help and support and where necessary use third party reporting facilities if they do not want to contact police directly."

Ramesh Kallidai, of the Hindu Forum of Britain, said: "Some girls are petrified because they are constantly being phoned up, having their door knocked.

"One girl was beaten up on the street and others have been forced to leave university."

posted February 24, 2007 07:00 PM            

quote:

---

If we have a psycho claiming a religion as a reason for his actions than it shouldnt be the religion that countless others who are not psycho follow that is to blame. What or who should be to blame is the psycho with that psycho train of thought and ideas carrying out the psycho actions.

---

Yeah, and you think people would get it the first time.....otherwise this thread wouldn't be in existence (oh yeah, and I'm also getting a feeling of some Deja Vu here). Don't get me wrong, I'm for shedding light on humanrights issues in the world but it I smell a hidden agenda behind this thread.

And its not even just Islam; there's people who think that its the cool thing to do to bash organized religion in general which sucks because if one were to look throughout history, these religions came about at a time when there was chaos in the society around the respective prophets or leaders of the religion. The religions they brought served to improve and bring stability and order to the society around them.

posted February 25, 2007 03:09 PM            

Propaganda...as in advocating for or against a cause?

Which?

Or, are you attempting to attack the credibility of the articles? Are you attempting to attack the facts...as laid out in the articles?

As for me, I readily admit I'm against killing women..or anyone else because of their religion, lack of religious beliefs, or leaving a religion they formerly were associated with.

I readily admit I'm against killing women or anyone else for that matter...who choose to adopt another culture.

I readily admit I'm against forced conversion to another religion or religion in general by intimidation, death threats or any other means.

I readily admit I'm against attempts to prevent one from changing religious beliefs by intimidation, death threats or murder as a tool to intimidate others who might also think about doing so.

posted February 25, 2007 04:04 PM            

quote:

---

and well this is called 'cancer-cancer psychic connection

---

Yes, you can't beat it either!

posted February 25, 2007 04:46 PM            

Either way DL, you lose.

posted February 25, 2007 05:06 PM            

The same with the Islamic society of SA who BTW banned it all the way in 2004.

posted February 25, 2007 05:18 PM            

However Xodian, I'm not aware of an American branch of the Normans or any attempt to force marriages upon the unwilling, by threats, intimidation or murder of the unwilling. In fact Xodian, there would be no point whatsoever to keep a bloodline pure...since our Constitution specifically forbids "Titles of Nobility" and rejects the concept in it's entirety.